Thursday, October 2, 2014

Nigerian Military Says New Shekau Video From Boko Haram is Fake

Abubakar Shekau, the Boko Haram leader, had in a new video [here] released today by AFP dismissed reports that the military killed him in a recent gun battle, but the miliatary is quickly debunking the video.

The Nigeria military insists that the Shekau in the video, who they say is really Mohammed Bashir, was killed last month. They say the video is fake, has no date and is yet to be verified. They said this in a statement posted on the Defense HQ website.

The Defence Headquarters is studying the claims made in the video purportedly released by the terrorists showing their leader Abubakar Shekau as dismissing his death. From immediate observation and what some online news outlets claimed to have seen, the video did not indicate when it was shot neither did it show any proof of life or currency such as screen time or date.

The video also did not make any reference to anything that has happened since the impostor’s reported death. It is also noteworthy that the air plane said to be mentioned in the video had been missing before he was killed.

It should not surprise anybody if the terrorists decide to manipulate pictures, clone another Shekau or upload a pre-recorded video all in a bid to prove invincible. As far as we are concerned, the individual who was appearing in video and claiming to be the leader of the terrorist group was killed in the Kondunga battle in September.

The resemblance of the corpse and that of the eccentric character was incontrovertible. His identity was equally corroborated by people who knew him before we announced his death. So, while waiting to see the new video before any further statement, our message to them is that justice will be served to whoever bears that name or designation and whoever engages in act.